Optimising Business Process Efficiency and Flexibility - Business Perspectives Journal - July 2012

BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES INFOGENCER

JOURNAL A Guide to the Business Value and Impact of Information Technology Solutions

Optimising Business Process

Efficiency and Flexibility

Introduction by Jason Chester CEO and Director of Research – Infogencer

Industry Perspective by Garth Knudson Director, International Sales and Alliances - HandySoft

Industry Perspective by Matt Davies Senior Director of Product Marketing – Cordys

WWW.INFOGENCER.COM/BPJ

JULY 2012

www.infogencer.com/bpj

July 2012 | Infogencer Business Perspectives Journal | 2

Welcome

While there is certainly no shortage of information on IT solutions and

services, the vast majority is technically oriented and aimed at a

technology audience. What is often overlooked is that investment in

IT solutions and services must be predicated on solid business

benefits. Our objective with the Infogencer Business Perspectives

Journal is simple: to provide business and commercially-oriented IT

management with perspectives on the business value and impact of IT

solutions and services.

As business managers are becoming much more involved in IT

investment decisions, and (we hope) that IT management are

becoming more commercially aware of the business impact of their

decisions, we believe that both audiences need a common and business focused

viewpoint. Through this Journal we aim to serve that need by helping to stimulate

thought and debate as to where IT investments should be focused to address some of the

most critical business opportunities and challenges facing organisations today.

Following our independent introduction, we are joined by a small number of senior

executives from the vendor community who provide their industry perspective. It is worth

remembering that these contributors have a wealth of practical and real-world experience

to share. It is also most likely that it is through the adoption of their solutions and services

that organisations can address the issues raised.

In this issue we cover the importance of optimising the efficiency and flexibility of business

processes. The top challenges regularly cited by our clients are the improvement of

business productivity, agility and cost reduction. As business processes underpin

practically everything an organisation does, they are prime candidates for addressing

these challenges.

In the introduction, we discuss the impact that friction, inflexibility and complexity has on

business processes and the subsequent impact on business performance. We then look at

the challenges that business management face and the responses that are needed to

counter their impact to improve the efficiency and flexibility of their business processes.

Following our introduction, Garth Knudson the Director of International Sales and

Alliances for HandySoft discusses two of the most fundamental components to successful

business process improvement: methodology and talent. Finally, Matt Davies the Senior

Director of Product Marketing for Cordys discusses the central role that Business Process

Management plays in addressing the challenge of improving business operations.

We hope that you enjoy this issue.

Jason Chester

Welcome to this issue of the Infogencer Business Perspectives Journal

Jason Chester CEO and Director of

Research Infogencer



Optimising Business Process Efficiency and Flexibility

Introduction

Business processes are the substrate on which every organisation is formed and without

them an organisation simply would not function, if at all exist. While we are not always

conscious of them, they underpin every single activity the business performs. Developing a

corporate strategy, designing new products and services, executing a global marketing

strategy, processing an employee expense claim, answering a customer query, replenishing

inventory or paying a supplier are all manifestations of business processes.

By definition, a business process is a collection or sequence of related activities and tasks

that together produce a desired outcome. A process may be structured (‘tick-the-box’

processes) such as processing customer orders or unstructured (‘dynamic’ processes) such

as budgeting or responding to customer correspondence. All organisations will have

processes that fit both of these descriptions, however many will fall somewhere in

between. While we tend to relate the term business process with more structured

activities, unstructured business processes are just as worthy of management attention.

Collectively these business processes form the basis for all the activities that the

organisation performs. In its purest sense, one could argue that the act of business itself is

the orchestration of a complex set of interconnected business processes.

More often than not, these business processes emerge and evolve as the organisation

grows without much management attention or intervention in their design. While we are

more aware of their inputs (such as receiving a customer order) and outputs (such as the

recorded increase in revenue) business management are often less aware of the internal

processes that go on in between those start and end points. Most processes just seem to

‘happen’, much like our autonomic nervous system which keeps us breathing and our

heart beating, yet they are essential to an organisation’s health and fitness.

While business processes are fundamental by enabling an organisation to conduct its

business - friction, inflexibility and complexity are their nemesis.

Business Process Friction and the Impact on Efficiency

As a business process is executed, each step imposes a friction which increases the overall

latency of the process. The amount of friction each step creates can vary enormously.

Automatically updating a database record will be negligible but manually re-keying a paper

-based form will create a significant amount of friction. This friction builds up through

each step and over long and complex processes, or highly unstructured processes, this

friction rapidly becomes significant. When business processes are repetitive, which almost

all are, this friction accumulates further over each cycle. In high volume transactional

scenarios where the individual process may seem efficient, the friction generated over

these high volumes can again become significant.

Jason Chester CEO and Director of Research for Infogencer

In its purest sense, one could argue that the

act of business itself is the orchestration of a

complex set of interconnected

business processes.



Introduction

This friction acts as an inhibitor which slows the organisation down and increases its

operating costs. While friction is present and unavoidable in all business processes of

course, it is vital that it is kept to a minimum. Any excess or unnecessary friction will lead

to the processes being inefficient, which in turn leads to a significant and avoidable cost

burden to the organisation as well as reducing its operational performance.

In the current climate, the efficiency of business processes could not be more important.

With more competitive global markets, subdued demand and competitive pricing

pressures all placing greater stress on maintaining margins, organisations must seek the

efficiencies needed to protect them. Where business processes involve the interaction of

the workforce, efficiency becomes even more critical. For most organisations the

workforce represents the single most costly asset and in many cases can account for

upwards of 70% of total operating costs. Improving process efficiency and reducing

process cycle times by reducing the friction in business processes increases overall

productivity, enabling the organisation to utilise fewer resources to achieve their

objectives.

To optimise the efficiency of business processes, business management and their teams

need to look closely at their process structures to identify where change is needed to

eliminate the unnecessary friction within these processes. By looking at the overall

process flow, unnecessary steps or more efficient flows should be identified. The

remaining steps that are essential to the process may also cause a high degree of friction.

The objective then needs to be to look where elements of the business process can be

automated or streamlined to improve their efficiency. Manually re-keying the information

from a customer application form is a good example, especially if the number and

frequency of documents processed is high. In this example the implementation of

document scanning and recognition solutions may significantly improve the efficiency of

the overall process, release resource and increase overall productivity.

How and where the workforce interacts with business processes is also an area that can

cause a high degree of friction. Traditionally, business processes have been locked within

enterprise applications such as CRM and ERP. This requires the user to ‘go to the process’

when interaction is required. Yet most users are spending an ever increasing amount of

time outside of these applications such as on email, enterprise social networks or mobile

devices. The ability to integrate business process with these environments enables the

process to ‘go to the user’, greatly increasing both the efficiency of the process and the

productivity of the user.

It is also often the case that a single business process may spread across many enterprise

applications. For example, processing a customer order may involve eCommerce, CRM,

ERP and finance applications, as well as external resources such as currency conversion or

credit scoring. Task switching between applications is known to be a significant drain on

employee productivity. By overlaying a process-oriented interface that provides a single

Task switching between applications is

known to be a significant drain on

employee productivity



integrated workspace, efficiency and productivity can be significantly increased. Solutions (known as composite or rich web applications in the industry) which enable organisations to achieve this are gaining prominence and for good reason.

Business Process Flexibility and the Impact on Agility

Not only do business processes enable the organisation to do what it does, collectively

they also form the instruction set that defines how the organisation does what it does.

When an organisation wants or needs to do something differently, it inevitably involves

the change to one or several business processes. For most organisations this is easier said

than done. More often than not, business processes are ‘hard-coded’ either in enterprise

applications - such as in CRM, ERP and financial systems - or worse still in people’s heads.

This situation creates two fundamental problems for organisations. Firstly, the lack of

visibility makes it impossible for organisations to have a holistic view of their business

processes, how they work and their interdependence with other business processes.

Second, is the impaired ability to change those business processes to meet the new

objectives quickly and efficiently. Together, these leave organisations no option other

than to invest significant time and resource in the discovery of and re-engineering of

business process to respond to change.

This can place the organisation in a precarious and risky position. With rapidly evolving

competitive markets, the volatility and uncertainty of the business environment in which

they operate, the commoditisation of products and services and rapidly changing

customer needs all demand greater speed and agility. The ability to respond to new

opportunities and challenges quickly and efficiently not only enables the organisation to

remain competitive but also encourages greater levels of innovation (both internally and

externally). For organisations that are unable to achieve that, they will inevitably lose out

to organisations that can.

Flexibility is also fundamental to delivering high levels of customer service and satisfaction.

Consumers and corporate buyers are becoming more promiscuous, and organisations that

expect their customers to conform to their existing business processes will become extinct.

Customers increasingly decide how and when they interact with the organisations they

deal with such as through social media or mobile devices. Organisations need to be able to

adapt their business processes to these changing customer requirements, or exceptions,

over time or on a customer-by-customer level. The emerging trend of mass customisation

should not just be seen as a product or service marketing tool, but as an emerging trend in

how customers interact with suppliers.

Unlike the challenge of improving process efficiency discussed above, the problem with

business process flexibility is that the changes required are often unknown until the need

for that change arises. In this case organisations must avoid being the rabbit staring at the

headlights. Instead, business management need to look closely at their ability to quickly

and efficiently affect change within their organisations. From a business process

perspective that means ensuring that flexibility is ‘built-in’ not only where processes are

Introduction

Flexibility is also fundamental to

delivering high levels of customer service and

satisfaction.



Introduction

more likely to be subject to change but also where change is less likely. What-if and

scenario exercises may be useful in highlighting particular problematic areas. However,

achieving this level of flexibility is no mean feat and will require organisations to undergo a

fundamental shift in how they manage their business processes.

Business Process Complexity

Complexity is perhaps one of the most significant business process challenges facing

organisations. The proliferation of distributed and interconnected applications, the

diversification of products and services, more complex customer interactions and the

networked economy for example, all increase the complexity of business processes

exponentially. Not only do individual business processes become more complex but the

interaction and interdependency with other business processes creates a web of

complexity that soon becomes difficult, if not impossible, to manage. This level of

complexity can have a debilitating impact on an organisation’s operational and strategic

performance. Complexity brings increased operating costs, increased operational and

compliance risk, management distraction and impairs the organisation’s ability to respond

to new opportunities and challenges.

Business process complexity in a typical organisation is considerably greater now than it

was a decade ago and will be considerably more complex a decade from now. Unless

action is taken now to manage complexity, organisations at some point will reach a tipping

point where complexity overcomes the organisation’s ability to deal with it.

Summary

Process friction, inflexibility and complexity all impose a form of virtual ‘drag’ on an

organisation’s performance. An apt analogy would be that of an aircraft in flight. Air

(business processes) is the substrate in which the aircraft (organisation) is able to fly

(operate and compete). The air imposes a drag on the aircraft as it moves through it. The

greater the amount of drag that accumulates, the less efficient the aircraft is. This causes

the aircraft to travel slower, be more difficult to manoeuvre and increases operating costs.

The more aerodynamically efficient the aircraft is, the more it is able to operate more

efficiently and flexibly. The same is true for organisations. As business processes

introduce drag through inefficiency, inflexibility and complexity - the cumulative effect

slows the organisation down, making it less efficient, less flexible and more costly to

operate.

Just as the designers of aircraft strive for greater improvements in performance, business

management need to recognise the same need within their organisations. This is not a just

problem for the IT department as is often perceived. Creating an operating environment in

which to optimise business process efficiency and flexibility should be a major priority for

senior business management.

Unless action is taken

now to manage

complexity,

organisations at some

point will reach a

tipping point where

complexity overcomes

the organisation’s

ability to deal with it.



Management Challenges and Responses

Introduction

Culture and Management Discipline

The term Business Processes Management (BPM) is commonly ascribed to a range of BPM

technology solutions. However, business process management is a management discipline

like any other. While technology solutions are a valuable tool in providing the capability

for organisations to manage process efficiency, flexibility and complexity more effectively –

they are only a part of the solution. To think any differently is a dangerous and risky

assumption. Business process management should be seen as an organisation-wide

management culture and discipline which is embraced by management at all levels within

the organisation, from CxO down to operational and line-of-business management. This

enables the organisation to create an environment in which there is a broad recognition of

the direct impact that business processes efficiency, flexibility and complexity can have on

performance.

While still relatively immature as a concept – business process governance is a more

formal approach that involves setting standards, priorities and goals which are clearly

aligned with the organisation’s operational and strategic objectives. Under a business

process governance framework there is perhaps a clearer understanding and definition of

an organisation’s processes, their owners and the stakeholders involved in optimising

them. Business process governance frameworks often see the creation of centres of

excellence or competency centres which bring together business and IT management and

their teams with clear objectives and areas of responsibility.

For most organisations, other than those in highly regulated industries such as financial

services, somewhere in between those two approaches will be a good starting point. What

is important is to clearly define who are the processes owners (most likely business

managers), the participants which are critical in supporting and enabling change (most

likely IT and business analysts) and defining clear goals and objectives that can be used to

measure success (or failure of course).

This culture and discipline also, and importantly, extends to the design and

implementation of an organisations technology and application portfolio. Visibility is

perhaps one of the most fundamental challenges to overcome when optimising business

process efficiency and flexibility. William Deming is often mis-quoted as saying “what

cannot be measured cannot be managed” however in the case of business processes –

what cannot be seen cannot be managed – is certainly true. Before an organisation can

even attempt to improve its business processes, it must be able to have a holistic view of

them, their interaction and interdependence with other business processes, applications,

systems and people.

Business process

management should be

seen as an organisation

-wide management

culture and discipline

which is embraced by

management at all

levels within the

organisation



Introduction

More often than not, the individual steps that make up a business process are often

contained within, and spread across, a wide range of enterprise applications and database

systems. These steps and their associated business rules (discussed later) are often ‘hard-

coded’ within the applications themselves. This cloak of invisibility makes it impossible for

non-technical staff, such as business management and analysts, to visualize a business

process and its interactions. Where people interact with system-based business processes

(system-to-human) or where processes involve direct interaction between colleagues

(human-to-human) the definitions, instructions and rules of these processes are often not

documented well, if at all.

Therefore vital to a business process management culture is the de-coupling and exposure

of business process and business rules from within the technology and operating

environment. As we shall discuss shortly, this transparency enables a business process

management framework to interact with the systems and procedures, providing a solid

foundation on which to manage and orchestrate business processes.

Establishing a Business Process Management Framework

By creating a business process improvement culture, or more formal governance

programme, business managers and their teams will soon have an understanding of what

is, and what is not, possible and the processes most in need of attention. However,

without a business process framework in place, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to

manage and implement their transformation. It is somewhat akin to a person with

paralysis – the head can imagine whatever it wants, but the body is not going to do

anything.

A business management framework consists of both a methodology and a set of tools and

solutions. From a methodology perspective, the most common is based on the business

process life-cycle as described and illustrated here: It is somewhat akin

to a person with

paralysis – the head

can imagine whatever

it wants, but the body

is not going to do

anything.



Introduction

Design – The identification of existing processes and the desired design of processes to

optimise efficiency and flexibility. Design includes elements such as process flow, alerts,

notifications, exception handling and escalation rules for example.

Model – Takes the theoretical design and produce a model of the business process in an

operational setting such as assigning business rules to processes. Modelling also allows

organisations to simulate the process in operation and conduct ‘what-if’ analysis to test

the processes prior to execution.

Execute – Implementation of newly modelled business process into the operational

environment by integrating and orchestrating the business process across with people and

enterprise applications and systems.

Monitor – Track and monitor overall process performance as well as monitor the progress

of individual process instances. Monitoring can be valuable in identifying processes

inefficiencies and bottlenecks.

Refine – Based on information and feedback from the modelling and monitoring phase of

the life-cycle the process can be re-modelled to improve efficiency and flexibility further.

A separate report could be written just on this business process life-cycle, if not each

individual phase; however the above serves as a high-level illustration as to a common

approach to managing the design and implementation of more efficient and flexible

business processes.

Implementing a business process management framework and methodology is in itself a

complex and difficult challenge. In our view, this is where Business Process Management

solutions become an important consideration for organisations.

Business Process and Case Management Solutions

Business Process Management solutions provide organisations with an integrated and

collaborative environment for implementing and managing this or similar business process

life-cycle methodologies. In addition to the features that enable the organisation to

discover, document and design more efficient business processes, execution and

monitoring are perhaps the most critical and most valuable. Based on common standards

(such Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Business Process Execution Language

(BPEL)), BPM solutions enable the integration and orchestration of business process

execution across the organisations applications, systems and people. This single holistic

view and management of business processes, from design through to implementation, is

for us one of the most profound capabilities provided by BPM solution.

Re-use of business processes and business rules are also a valuable capability provided by

BPM solutions. In many business processes, elements will be common across a number of

different processes. Likewise, common business rules such as customer credit limits,

inventory re-order levels, or escalation procedures will also be used across many business

This single holistic

view and management

of business processes,

from design through to

implementation, is for

us one of the most

profound capabilities

provided by BPM

solutions.



Introduction

processes. The repositories provided by BPM solutions enable these elements to be

designed and managed in a single instance which can then be integrated into, or re-used

by other business process. This can significantly reduce overall complexity and increase

flexibility by providing a single point of change.

The capabilities that BPM solutions provide are particularly valuable to business processes

that can be very clearly defined with a set of steps, procedures and rules. However, with

processes which are more unstructured and variable, or rely heavily on human judgement

or collaboration between individuals, such as handling customer complaints or sales

enquiries, the BPM solutions as described above may not be appropriate. In this instance,

several BPM vendors provide specific solutions known as Case Management solutions.

These provide much of the same level of capabilities to manage and monitor these more

dynamic processes, but allow for the flexibility and variability that is required.

Later in this paper we have invited a small number of leading Business Process

Management vendor executives to provide their Industry Perspective on how their

solutions can address these challenges in more detail.

Enterprise-wide vs. Process-centric Focus

Although business processes are involved in everything the organisation does, addressing

them over this broad landscape will be undoubtedly troublesome. The grand vision often

sold by incumbent suppliers of BPM solutions is that of enterprise-wide processes flowing

in a seamless manner, with management looking on proudly at their process flows in

action. This is the stuff of fairy tales and unless the organisation is truly exceptional it will

not happen this way.

Increasingly, organisations are taking a more process-centric approach. Identifying process

areas which have the greatest potential impact on efficiency, where flexibility is more

critical to operational change and where complexity is a concern are of course higher

priorities for management to address. This approach will enable organisations to realise

greater returns more quickly before extending their reach deeper into and further across

the organisations processes.

The new breed of BPM solution providers supports this approach much more favourably.

By providing solutions ‘out-of-the-box’ with fast deployment timeframes, easy to use point

-and-click, drag-and-drop functionality and backed by proven methodologies, organisations

can start to reap the rewards quickly and without too much (if at all) technical resource

required to support them. As well as these ‘on-premise’ deployments, BPM solutions are

increasingly been delivered as a cloud service. This will often provide the fastest time to

solution route and will enable organisations to have a business processes management

framework in place within days. The cloud option will also provide the least risk by

providing organisations with a relatively low cost entry point enabling them to conduct

pilot projects and assess the value of their capabilities.

This is the stuff of

fairy tales and unless

the organisation is truly

exceptional it will not

happen this way.



Introduction

The mere mention of cloud-based applications brings with it concerns around security and

privacy. While there are genuine reasons for some concern, we should not believe

everything we read in the papers. Some of these concerns are misguided and it should be

the job of the organisation to decide their own level of acceptable risk. This will vary

depending on the nature and sensitivity of the process and the data passing through the

cloud service. It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss cloud-based security and

privacy in any great detail other than to flag it as an issue.

Summary

Achieving greater business process efficiency and flexibility is undoubtedly one of the most

important challenges that business management face. While many vendors would like you

to believe otherwise, there is no technology ‘silver-bullet’ that will solve all these

challenges in one fell swoop. While BPM solutions play a major role, it also involves a

seismic shift in management’s mindset, developing a business process management

culture and discipline, developing and implementing a cohesive business process

management framework and changing the way organisations develop and implement

technology solutions.

While there is no end point, in that optimising business process efficiency and flexibility

will always be an ongoing process, there is most definitely a starting point. For every

organisation that will be different. Some may be well on the road with ambitious

enterprise-wide business processes management programmes, while others may want to

look at implementing very limited or specific business process using a cloud-based

solution.

Jason Chester is the CEO and Director of Research for Infogencer - [email protected] To comment on this article e-mail [email protected]



A BPM Market Perspective

Industry Perspective

Business Process Management (BPM) can be defined as a:

Management philosophy emphasizing process innovation and optimization

through greater visibility and control over participation and policies.

Methodology defining and supporting organizational change.

Suite of tools enabling, instituting and optimizing change through process

discovery, design, automation, and analytics.

Each definition plays a critical role in project success. In fact, the success of any BPM-based

application is a combination of executive commitment (philosophy), project management

and development methodology, solution innovation (product suite capabilities), and

maybe most importantly, talent (people).

BPM Success Dependencies

In order for Executives to be committed to a BPM project, they must 1) understand the

value of BPM to reduce costs, improve services, and enable compliance, and 2) believe that

both the talent and the tools can deliver on that value proposition.

There is ample proof that BPM pays dividends. Examples include:

Touchstone Health – Automating insurance appeals cuts 30% in annual

operational costs.

Jardine Lloyd Thompson – Streamlining employee benefits services reduced

overhead by >$3M annually and contributed to growth in company’s 2010

trading profits by 50%.

Garth Knudson Director, International Sales and Alliances for HandySoft




U.S. Navy – Transforming credit card micro purchasing reduced cycle time by 3.2

days and decreased in contract defects 30% for a 400% ROI.

Samsung – Adding control over contract management reduces annual oversight

by $845K, material selection by $338K, and increased production volumes by

$2.5M.

U.S. Dept of Energy – Streamlining loan guarantee program reduces evaluation

time by 65% for savings of >$2M annually in annual operational costs and

oversight.

But just because others have had success, executives still need insurance that the

organization’s team and tools can deliver. Team members must be qualified and remain

proficient in both methodology and toolset. This is much more than just a one-time

training session. It is continuous investment in talent (the right people) and know-how

(best practices). As BPM is multifaceted, team members must also have expertise in

project management, business analysis, technical design, and application development.

Moving across roles, team members must know how to combine elements of Waterfall,

Agile, and Scrum to collect requirements as well as design and implement applications

Furthermore, BPM can be applied to any type of process. Although today’s BPM solutions

automate and optimize transactional and structured business processes exceptionally well,

industry experts surmise that only 20% of the work performed by employees each day

adheres to well defined process. The other 80% of work is more project-based, goal-driven,

or task-oriented. As executives want to get the most out of their investments, both team

members and tools must be able to adapt design and development to all process

scenarios.

Process Spectrum

BPM can be easy and straight-forward. But it can also be highly complex, integrated with

multiple applications, taking on a variety of workflow scenarios, culling hundreds of

metrics, and executing thousands of work items every hour – in essence, running the

business. There is no room for failure.

At HandySoft we understand this important combination of methodology, tools and talent

to foster executive commitment and enable process automation across all process types.



Methodology


Working with customers we have used Waterfall, Agile, Scrum and other methods to

design, build and implement applications. Combining this know-how of Rapid Application

Development techniques with the dynamic capabilities of BizFlow, we have created a BPM-

oriented methodology called Rapid Process Management (RPM).

RPM enables customers to deliver solutions faster with fewer issues and resources by

pulling forward process design and development during requirements analysis. As BizFlow

provides process modelling linked seamlessly with rapid forms design, team members can

build and show functionality as requirements grow and solidify. Testing and QA can occur

in parallel during the development phase.

As a result, business owners can literally see the solution evolve early in the project,

affording the opportunity to provide precise feedback needed to reduce cycle iterations.

Customers have experienced between 10% and 40% savings in application

implementations and deployments.

HandySoft uses RPM with customers. Through talent development exercises, HandySoft

also teaches this methodology in both classroom and on-site instruction.



Talent Development


Notwithstanding your methodology and product suite, your people are responsible for

building and delivering solutions. That makes hiring and inspiring people your most

important job.

In the context of BPM, people need to understand both the science and art of solution

innovation. Process-driven applications are more than just workflow activities linked

together by business rules. They include interfaces and forms that if designed well can

provide highly intuitive user experiences generating rich data sets for reporting and

analytics.

We have spent years developing and fine-tuning training programs that speak to the art

and science of BPM. So too have other BPM vendors and consultants. Take advantage of

these courses. Knowing BPM fundamentals as well as key product functionality will enable

team members, particularly business analysts, to lead more thoughtful and creative

requirement sessions. Knowing advanced development techniques will help designers

create more adaptable, user-friendly applications at a faster pace.

As a best practice, all BPM team members should participate in courses on process

modelling, forms design and development, and user experience design. Topics include:

Process Modelling – Create project, create workflow (using BPMN), add business

rules (e.g, roles, responsibilities, policies, procedures, routing, escalations,

scheduling, etc.), add triggers (agents, components, SQL activities), design sub-

processes, publish process models, create templates, control versions, foster

collaboration

Forms Design – Review design methodology covering application map, page

structure, field details, bindings, testing, and publish functionality; learn to use

controls (i.e., buttons, boxes, hyperlinks, tables, maps, charts, hints), hide and

restrict fields, use advanced bindings (i.e., dates initiator, random number

generation), leverage data sources, use events (i.e., calculations, form navigation,

autofill), create multiple forms, create headers with partial pages, use tabs, verify

bindings, read error logs, create calls; leverage CSS

User Experience – Create interface design (navigation, views, menus, users,

groups and roles), create domains for reports, format pages (tabs, portlets,

dashboards), integrate with portals (SharePoint)

Integration – Integrate with databases, 3rd party systems, email, LDAP, EDMS,

adaptors, themes, process variables, reports

System Architecture – Review requirements and options for 1-tier, 2-tier, 3-tier

environments; review options for SaaS and Cloud deployments



Talent Development


As stated above, processes vary. In

fact, the same process (e.g., accounts

payable, purchase requests) varies

from company to company. No one

process is uniform across all markets.

Furthermore, process-driven

applications are made up many

moving parts – workflows, forms,

user interfaces, reports – that all

must work seamlessly to deliver

flexible, intuitive solutions allowing

users to efficiently do their work.

These conditions necessitate an

innovative, yet cost-effective

platform for creating rich-internet

applications as the speed of business.

In 1999 HandySoft launched BizFlow BPM. We were the first to combine process modelling

with forms development into one platform. And we were the first to enable process

automation beyond structured processes to ad-hoc workflows, case dockets, and

completely dynamic tasks.

Today, BizFlow is an intelligent BPM Suite (iBPMS) enabling customers to create highly

adaptable, web-based solutions with rich analytics and executive dashboards.

Reporting – Design and build reports, graphs, dashboards; create ad-hoc reports,

schedule reports, run analytics, leverage BI

Administration – Install products, manage users and user groups, upgrade

applications

Methodology – Collect requirements, analyze and design workflows, review

project timelines and budgets, fix specifications, follow RPM

You cannot invest enough in talent. Whether educating current team members or finding

new people you need to invest in the best talent available to maximize your investment in

methodology and tools. They are the ones who make your investment in BPM really

payoff.




Key BizFlow differentiators include:

Process automation across the full spectrum of processes

Rapid development of applications for all devices

Deep analytics for process intelligence

BizFlow continues to

be the first and only

BPM suite to

automate all process

types. Designers can

quickly build

transactional,

structured, and case-

oriented applications.

These apps inherently

support ad-hoc,

collaborative

activities.

Moreover, users can

create their own

projects and tasks.

“Quick Process” allows

users to rapidly design

and execute projects in 5 easy steps: 1) Create checklist, 2) Outline tasks, 3) Add details, 4)

Set reminders, and 5) Review. You can immediately execute as well as reuse quick

processes. You can share

documents (via laptop,

SharePoint, Google Doc), share the

process, and share the goals. You

can plan projects anytime, from

any device. There is no need to

involve IT.

The UI combines work area with

checklists, responses, instructions,

and a discussion area to ensure

healthy collaboration and efficient

execution. With permissions, users

can change the process on the fly

to get the job done more quickly

or effectively.




BizFlow also allows

completely dynamic project

management and action

tracking. Users simply 1)

Initiate task, 2) Describe

task, 3) Select participants,

and 4) Determine deadlines

and priorities.

With both Quick Process and

Dynamic Tasking, users get

the same benefits of control,

visibility, and compliance as afforded by structured BPM applications. They can track status

with a full audit trail of user interactions.

Application development is enabled by a rapid development platform BizFlow WebMaker.

With it developers use a codeless, WYSIWYG environment to design and visualize web

apps. Just drag and drop visual components, database fields, and web service components

onto your page. Tabs, accordions, and layout groups help you to simplify formats and

maximize space. With little effort, add cutting edge effects with calendars, a rich text

editor, and professionally designed styles. Same data and same business rules play in a

form regardless of device used. You don’t need an android specific developer. You don’t

need an iOS developer. All you need is a BizFlow developer to deliver solutions for iPad,

iPhone and Android-based users.

BizFlow also comes with functionality

to quickly create forms. It allows

users to: 1) Create smart forms that

adjust to client interaction (add/edit

fields, ask/answer new questions, add

comments, attach docs), 2) Change

workflow scenarios based on end-

user interaction requirements, 3)

Create custom email templates for

each stage of the workflow, and 4)

Add personalized branding. Pushing

out forms design empowers users to

interact in new ways with each other,

clients or general consumers. It

allows mass customization for

process driven applications.




In addition to rapid forms design and execution, BizFlow makes deployment and

troubleshooting simple and easy. You can open up the debugging dashboard with server

logs, refresh logs, view the current configuration, and restart your application without

interfering with other applications.

With BizFlow, you also have a web-based solution for on-demand analytics. Online analytic

data with multi dimension data cubes or Big Data empowers users to dive deep, explore,

and harvest intelligence that boosts competitiveness. Users can add measures, filters with

complex conditions, and drill down and up. Save or export the analysis results into excel,

pdf, or other formats and share them. Run reports on demand or schedule them to deliver

reports via email. Run reports online or via iPad apps. Process intelligence is at your

fingers.

Summary

BPM applications are the result on talented people

using innovative software in a methodological fashion.

HandySoft is committed to empowering people with

training and best practices. We are focused on

producing new functionality that simplifies

development and expands usage into all workflow

scenarios. And we are committed to helping customers

deliver projects through rapid process management.




HandySoft is the leading global provider of business process management software and

solutions known as BizFlow®. HandySoft is the first in the industry to seamlessly integrate

and automate both formal processes and ad-hoc tasks to drive visibility, control and

productivity across all work that happens within an organization. With BizFlow®, process

participants – executives, managers, knowledge workers – are assured of visibility into and

control over process execution to vastly improve productivity, quickly adapt to changes in

their business, and ensure compliance.

With the experience gained from supporting more than 600,000 users worldwide,

HandySoft can help all types of organizations accelerate their business transformation

objectives through process automation, optimization, and sustainment.

3141 Fairview Park Drive

Suite 850

Falls Church

VA 22042

TEL: (703) 645.4500

FAX: (703) 703.991.0331

www.handysoft.com

Content provided in this Industry Perspective is proprietary to HandySoft Global

Corporation

Garth Knudson is the Director, International Sales and Alliances

for HandySoft - [email protected]

To comment on this article e-mail [email protected]

About HandySoft

http://www.handysoft.com/content/bizflow-bpm



The Challenge of Improving Business Operations


As you’ve read in the introduction, processes are fundamentally linked to a company’s

business operations and its strategic performance. Process efficiency, flexibility, complexity

and governance combined with business priorities are all key factors in an organization’s

business operations.

Cordys recently commissioned wide

ranging research into business

operations across 700 business and IT

decision makers across key verticals

such as financial services,

telecommunications and

manufacturing. This research looked

into the demands and pressures under

which business and IT operate and the

impact on the relationship between

them. The figure below shows the top

six business operations priorities in

2012 and how their importance has

increased.

Alongside those business priorities

you can see the improvements that

the business decisions makers wanted

to see across their organizations. All

five areas of improvement fall under

the remit of a good Business Process

Management platform.

There were some very interesting

findings in the research and you can

find an infographic summarising them

here and the full report can be found

here.

Within the report there are two

further findings that are particularly

relevant for the role of BPM in improving business operations. 96% of the business

decision makers surveyed feel they are under pressure to improve and progress how their

business operates. 72% of those same business stakeholders report that IT is not helping

them achieve these business priorities. The rest of this paper will discuss how BPM helps

improve business operations and aligns business and IT.

Business Process Management and its Role in Improving Business Operations Matt Davis Senior Director of Product Marketing for Cordys

http://bpm.cordys.com/bpm/research-findings/

http://cordys.com/it_is_not_helping_to_achieve_business?year=2012&month=06



Aligning the Change Cycles of Business and IT


As previously mentioned, the big challenge in improving business operations is business

stakeholders being under increased pressure from their business priorities but at the same

time struggling because IT can’t help them achieve these priorities. The Cordys Business

Operations Platform helps tackle this problem by synchronizing the change cycles of

business and IT and their relative difference in speed.

The picture below shows how the business changes quickly, in some cases every quarter.

The technology change cycle is much slower, on average 6-10 years. This creates the

inherent problem described earlier, that the business has to change ever more quickly but

IT can’t keep up. Clearly, ripping out technology every time the business changes isn’t

going to work. This is where a Business Process Management platform such as Cordys

helps align those different speeds of change.

In the diagram above, the Cordys Business Operations Platform with its BPM and Case

Management capabilities is key to synchronizing these change cycles. However, to really

deliver on this promise of improving business operations, BPM needs to have supporting

capabilities. These supporting capabilities give you the ability to extend the reach of your

processes to really maximize their impact and deliver on the promise of efficiency,

flexibility and business agility. These supporting capabilities fall into two categories; firstly

enabling technologies such as cloud computing, enterprise mobility and social

collaboration, and second is supporting BPM capabilities such as integration, business

rules, presentation / user interface, case management etc.



Customer Showcase – Smarter Business Operations in the Insurance Sector


ASR – a leading Dutch insurance organization selected Cordys to tackle their business

challenges which were:

Compliance with the rapidly changing regulations

Increase market share

Reduce time to market of new products and services

Increase efficiency

Improve process visibility

ASR selected Cordys to provide better information management, decision

support tools, improved process and case management. With Cordys, ASR

delivered flexibility and agility across the entire organization. A summary of

their benefits include:

Claims operated over 80% Straight Through Processing (STP)

Processing time for pension plan participants decreased from 13 minutes to 2

minutes

Reduction in FTEs from 80 to 60

Highly adaptive to changes in legislation

Improved customer service

Reduction in storage costs

Ability to cross-sell leading to an increase in market share

A full set of Cordys case studies can be found here.

http://www.cordys.com/resources



Extending the Reach of Your Processes with Cloud Computing, Mobile Technology and Social Collaboration


There are three big factors dramatically influencing the way organizations are managing

and operating their processes today. These are cloud computing, social collaboration and

mobile technology.

Cloud Computing

The speed of getting started is a huge benefit of bringing cloud technology to BPM.

Typically, BPM-in-the-cloud providers should offer this capability “as a Service”, meaning

that customers can start with BPM without having to install and set up the software

themselves. The price point to enter BPM through the cloud is usually lower due to the

“pay for use” subscription model. Also – customers can try BPM to see what it is all about

and if it is right for them. Another advantage is that it is easier to orchestrate applications

and data that reside in the cloud, so running BPM in the cloud makes processes more

efficient.

That last point is particularly important. Increasingly we’re seeing business stakeholders

choose Software as a Service for cost effective, fast delivery of critical IT capability. This

really helps the business in the short term. However, this can create two potential issues;

first you create a “Shadow IT” department in the cloud, secondly you create a process

problem. How does an organization deliver truly enterprise wide business processes when

they have a mix of applications and data both on-premise and in the cloud. This has been

termed the “mess of many” and can be illustrated in the diagram below.




This diagram shows how using SaaS can lead to substantial challenges when trying to

deliver the benefits of enterprise wide data, integration, processes, user interfaces and

governance.

There are great benefits for cloud computing when it comes to BPM and solving this “mess

of many” issue – increasingly there is a need for a “hybrid” approach to business processes

that interact not only with people but also on-premise and cloud based information and

software.

The Cordys platform gives you all the benefits of BPM discussed in this paper but also a

number of benefits from the cloud. These include:

No upfront investment – companies don’t need to spend on hardware, support

services, installation, etc

Enterprise ready – A high performance, secure, scalable multi-tenant enterprise

cloud platform

Productivity – A no coding, easy to use, highly collaborative approach to BPM

One note of caution and pragmatism, as with all areas of this industry, there is a lot of hype

around cloud technology and getting to the real benefits can often be drowned out by

“cloud washing”. There are three things to really consider when it comes to BPM and the

cloud:

Do you have people, data, or services in the cloud that your processes need to

work with?

Do you want to actually execute processes in the cloud? If so, how do you include

your existing data and systems that aren’t in the cloud?

Cut through the hype. Is cloud really suitable for what your organization needs to

achieve today, tomorrow or somewhere in the future?

You can read more on this subject at a recent Cordys blog posting here.

Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Technology and BPM

There is no great secret that the emergence of mobile technology is changing the way we

all do a lot of things. This is especially true when it comes to the impact mobile technology

has on business operations and the processes that support them. This huge shift means

that the default way of interacting with applications, services and processes will become

the mobile device. This has significant impact on business processes and increasingly the

approach to business processes will be to design “mobile first”.

http://blog.cordys.com/navigating-bpm-in-the-cloud/




Not only will mobile devices change the way we interact but mobile adoption will actually

lead to an evolution of BPM as a technology and a discipline. BPM already acts as the core

to the next generation of composite applications that are made up of process, data, user

interface, rules etc. BPM platforms will actually evolve to be the way of delivering

enterprise mobility and addressing the “Bring Your Own Device” challenge while still

allowing excellence in business operations, corporate governance and compliance.

Social Collaboration

The way our enterprise business technology works is a long way behind the technology we

use for our personal lives. Outside of work we’re more social and collaborative through

technology than we are in the office. For the last five years we’ve accepted this but, as the

“digital native” has an increasingly important role as not only a customer but also an

employee, this old fashioned acceptance of hard to use technology is becoming less

accepted.

At Cordys we’re trying to help fix that by spending a lot of time making sure the way users

interact with our technology is easy to use, collaborative and highly productive. In fact

Cordys is one of the few platforms recognized as the new generation of “Productivity

Platforms”. A practical example of this is how we allow social collaboration when it comes

to modelling organization, processes and cases. Everything with the Cordys platform is

browser based. Collaborative modelling in Cordys allows users anywhere in the world to

work together, in real time, in the web browser to model, document and capture their

business operations. The image below shows Erik and Johan collaboratively modelling

together in “whiteboard mode” on an order process in their web browser whilst chatting

about the process and their requirements.



Customer Showcase – Extending Office Collaboration Suites with BPM, Cloud and Mobile in the Manufacturing Industry


Valeo, a leading French automotive manufacturing organization, has been using Lotus

Notes for more than 10 years with 32,000 users, 6000 applications and more than 250

servers running. Valeo was looking for an innovative way to reduce the office

infrastructure costs while simultaneously improving user collaboration and productivity.

Their main business challenges were:

Improve user collaboration and productivity on top of their new cloud office suite

Replace Lotus Notes applications

Make applications available anywhere anytime with a focus on mobile

Make business processes less dependent on organizational changes

Increase development efficiency

After a thorough evaluation of market place alternatives, Valeo decided to move to the

cloud and deploy Google Apps for Business to the company’s entire office-based

workforce. The Cordys platform was then chosen by Valeo to add cloud based Business

Process Management (BPM) and mobile capability to their Google Apps and to integrate

Google Apps with their enterprise software.

Valeo achieved a number of business benefit, the key ones being:

Enterprise BPM for 32,000 Google Apps users

250 servers reassigned or decommissioned

6000+ applications in Lotus Notes will be reduced to less than 1,000 on the new

Cloud Platform

Complete “Office in the Cloud” with governance and control

You can find the Valeo case study here.




The Next Generation of Enterprise Applications are Composite and Process Centric


There is a lot of talk and a return of focus on applications and application development

right now. This is at least partly triggered by the popularity of mobile applications, app

stores, platform as a service etc. For enterprises, we’re going to see BPM and process take

an important role in applications. In fact we’re seeing the next generation of enterprise

applications be composite and process centric. What does this mean? The applications and

services that you need to deliver to keep improving your business operations and customer

service will be composed rather than developed and they will be made up of many

different “fragments” such as data, cloud services, on premise systems (ERP, CRM) and

mobile presentation options. The thing that guides or binds these fragments together will

often be process or a case. The series of applications that you deliver to your “customer”,

be it internal or external, are often very varied. One advantage of a composite application

delivered by a feature rich BPM platform is that it is faster and easier to create this variety

of complex solutions but not have to re-invent the wheel each time. Take three examples:

1. Your first application might be a shipping & fulfilment solution made up of ERP,

Supply Chain Management, integration and some processes

2. Your second application might be a customer service solution made up of CRM from

the cloud, MDM to get a single view of customer, content and document together

with a case centric approach

3. Your third application might be a mobile application that on-boards a new customer

quickly and allows them to start consuming products and services from the first

solution above whilst ensuring customer service thanks to the second solution above

All of these applications are composite. As you mix more and more of these things

together, you’re really creating a composite application made up of all of these parts.

Here is a real world customer example from a manufacturing company using Cordys. This

company has delivered a composite application assembled in weeks that combines fully

integrated case management driven by MDM combining Salesforce.com, an ERP system,

M2M, content management, real time monitoring of devices, and mobile device working

all composed and delivered through your browser. You suddenly start to realize that this is

a completely new kind of composite application that is process centric and combines

mobile, social and cloud.

So what are composite applications?

A way of building user interfaces to present processes, cases, applications,

dashboards etc to users

The capability for business users to self assemble or compose business mash-ups

made up of internal and external information



Data Driven BPM – Turning Big Data into Operations Intelligence and putting it in the Hands of the End User


Big data is a subject that comes up prominently on the IT and business agenda. The use of

data has an important part to play in BPM and business operations. Many of our customers

have been using Cordys to approach BPM from a “data first” approach. The Cordys

platform is being used to pull together different kinds of data from all kinds of different

sources and put it together in different ways. This single view gives someone the

information they need, that they can drill down on in order to make a decision. The Cordys

platform typically pulls data together in a few different ways:

Data integration – pulling different systems together and integrating data in the

traditional way

MDM – creating a single view of customer, product, risk etc

BAM – intelligence & data about how processes are performing

Analytics to drive business decisions – hooking into data warehouses, reporting

etc.

We typically pull this data together into a business user dashboard presented in a browser.

What do they give you?

High levels of productivity and speed for subject matter experts to create, share

and publish relevant business applications

Technology in the workplace that is as productive as the consumer IT people use

outside work

Disposable applications that solve a problems but can be thrown away

Mix and match structured data from internal systems (e.g. ERP) with external

data (e.g. Google Maps)

A rich way of participating in processes and giving the right information in one

place to the right person (customer, employee, business manager)




Where the Cordys platform really comes into its own is when you want to make that data

“actionable”. When you’ve seen the trend, the risk, the opportunity or the action that you

need to do – what next? Do you do what we’ve always done by emailing someone, ringing

them up or sending them a fax? Where the sweet spot of data and process comes into play

is by making the data actionable. When you’ve seen the information that helps you make a

decision on a composite dashboard, I want to be able to fire off the business process to

execute the decision I’ve made. Maybe I want to escalate the data I’ve seen and pass it on

to another team to investigate using Case Management. Maybe I need to evolve my

actionable dashboard to “mash up” internal analytics with data from the cloud (maybe a

map, Salesforce, etc).

More and more, we’re seeing customers taking a “data first” approach to BPM. Just a few

selected examples include:

1. Reinsurance Counterparty Management – a real time data, actionable view of risk

position

2. Remote Service Platform – service management across a wide range of IP connected

assets also known as the “internet of things”

3. Operations Intelligence – decision management using “big data” from real-time data

sources.



Customer Showcase – Data driven BPM Delivering Operational Intelligence to a Top Three Global Oil and Gas Organization


One of the world’s top three Oil and Gas companies faced difficulties with real time

operations data. They faced a number of challenges:

They needed to find a better way to get the latest relevant oil and gas production

and operational data in to the hands of the people that need it.

This data was hard to get at, to keep real-time and to visualize.

This impacted not only plant production and operational efficiency but also risk,

governance and compliance reporting.

They had to find a way to automate and optimize business visibility and a way of

representing huge amounts of complex data.

They selected Cordys to deliver them a solution to these challenges. A summary of the

business benefits were:

The ability to make smarter, faster, better business decisions by relying on

operational intelligence with an improved quality of “customizable” data

Increased IT productivity by deploying standards-based service architecture to

empower business users to compose their own intelligence applications

Improved business user productivity by optimizing analysis without needing

technical support

Decreased development and implementation costs—deliver visibility into

business events and operations without tapping limited IT budgets or freeing

resources to work on other, more complex challenges

Improved intelligence from multiple data stores for past and present business

trends



Conclusion


The key to a company’s business operations and strategic performance are the

effectiveness of its processes. These processes need to drive efficiency, add flexibility to

operations and bring agility to the business. This has to be done with the backdrop of

business and IT complexity and the need to provide governance and compliance.

As you’ve read in the introduction, processes are fundamentally linked to a company’s

business operations and its strategic performance. Process efficiency, flexibility, complexity

and governance combined with business priorities are all key factors in an organization’s

business operations.

Clearly, this is not easy or trivial. Business Process Management as both a discipline and as

technology helps deliver business efficiency, flexibility and agility whilst managing

complexity, governance and compliance. BPM allows businesses to start with the

organizational process view – what are my key business metrics that are driven by how my

company works – and then drive their business operations improvement from there

The reach of your processes and hence the impact on operational improvement can be

enhanced through the use of enabling and supporting technologies such as cloud

computing, social collaboration and mobile technology.

Processes also impact the way we deliver the next generation of applications that will be

inherently process centric and composed of many different enterprise “fragments” such as

data, SaaS, legacy systems and processes all delivered through multiple business and

technology channels.

Finally, the role of big data will play a key part in giving better operational intelligence to

an organization and BPM allows this data to be turned into operational intelligence and

put in the hands of business users. This allows the speed at which an organization can

answer important questions to be increased. Data driven BPM also allows a consolidated

view of information to part of a process in a way that couldn’t be done before. Ultimately,

all of these factors enable a company to make better business decisions.

The Cordys Business Operations Platform can help you improve your business operations

in the ways detailed above with an analyst recognised, industry leading, single platform

available on premise, in a private cloud or available as a service in the public cloud.




Cordys is a company that offers a Business Process Management Platform that has been

recognised, by analysts, as the most complete in the market. We’re used by over 250

organizations globally to improve their business operations. The founders of Cordys were

also the founders of Baan ERP and went on to help create Webex before starting Cordys in

2004.

Since our inception – we’ve been a company focused on helping organizations improve the

way they do business. We’ve always been focused on Business Process Management

(BPM) but we’ve always taken a broader view on the wider set of business and IT

capabilities that companies need. To try and explain what we do for our customers – we’ve

summarised in 6 “pillars” how organizations use the Cordys software.

Improving customer service

Being a product leader

Maximizing existing IT investments

Driving revenue growth

Benefiting from cloud computing

Making business operations smarter

Further Reading:

“Get started” with the Cordys BPM Healthcheck

Cordys and Vanson Bourne BPM research report

Case studies

Customer testimonial videos

The Cordys platform in action videos

The Cordys blog

Find out more at http://www.cordys.com

About Cordys

Matt Davies is the Senior Director of Product Marketing for Cordys - [email protected] To comment on this article e-mail [email protected]

http://bpm.cordys.com/bpm/bpm-healthcheck/

http://bpm.cordys.com/bpm/cordys-bpm/PDF




http://blog.cordys.com/

http://www.cordys.com

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Date post:	17-Oct-2014
Category:	Business
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